1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of magnetic disk drives, and more particularly to aspects of a write element of a disk drive head and methods of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic disk drives are used to store and retrieve data for digital electronic apparatuses such as computers. In FIGS. 1 and 2, a magnetic disk data storage system 10 includes an enclosure 12, a disk drive motor 14, and a magnetic disk, or media, 16 supported for rotation by a drive spindle 17 of motor 14. Also included are an actuator 18 and an arm 20 attached to an actuator spindle 21 of actuator 18. A suspension 22 is coupled at one end to the arm 20 and at another end to a head 24. The suspension 22 and the 24 are commonly collectively referred to as a head gimbal assembly (HGA). The head 24 typically includes a slider and a transducer that includes an inductive write element and a magnetoresistive read element. As the motor 14 rotates the magnetic disk 16, as indicated by the arrow R, an air bearing is formed under an air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider causing the head 24 to lift slightly off of the surface of the magnetic disk 16, or, as it is commonly termed in the art, to “fly” above the magnetic disk 16. Data bits can be written or read along a magnetic “track” of the magnetic disk 16 as the magnetic disk 16 rotates past the head 24. The actuator 18 moves the head 24 from one magnetic track to another by pivoting the arm 20 and the suspension 22 in an arc indicated by arrows P. The design of magnetic disk data storage system 10 is well known to those skilled in the art.
The magnetic disk data storage industry has been very successful at achieving ever greater data densities on magnetic disks 16. Increasing data densities, measured typically in gigabits per square inch GB/in2, have been accomplished, in part, by writing increasingly narrower tracks and writing the tracks more closely together. Increasing data densities have also been achieved by writing more data bits in each track. This can be accomplished by increasing the frequency of the write element, where frequency is a measure of how many data bits the write element can write per second.
In order to continue to provide magnetic disk drives with still greater data densities, what is needed is a write element that is operable at still higher frequencies and that can write tracks more closely together.